It may seem like the healthcare industry is experiencing a complete overhaul of technologies to help meet the increasing demands placed on medical professionals everywhere. Meaningful Use is one of the most crucial aspects of any new healthcare technology on the market today. Although some technologies are very promising in what they can offer doctors and healthcare organizations, there are still many logistical issues that occur in its implementation. Since the birth of electronic medical records, electronic devices have become capable of accessing large medical databases.

Computerized provider order entry technology has been used in intervals in the different fields of healthcare. For instance, retail pharmacy operations revolve around CPOE technology. Patients go to their pharmacy of choice with a prescription for a medication where the pharmacist and support staff attempts to gain as much clinical and diagnostic information as possible. Healthcare workers immediately enter pertinent information for that prescription order, being as careful as possible to avoid mistakes, miscommunications, and other dangerous errors that have the potential of causing serious drug reactions. The logistical issue that is present here is the amount of technological intervention to assist treating each patient in large healthcare facilities, such as hospitals.

Hospitals are targeted by CPOE technology because of the large amount of patients they treat and the amount of medical information that is needed to help diagnose patients. Technically speaking, computerized provider order entry technology is the use of an institutional computerized health record by physicians to enter their orders electronically. Current statistics indicate that roughly eighty to one hundred percent of physicians input patient data themselves. However, this begins to be problematic when there are increasing numbers of patients and not enough support staff to assist operations. The leading benefit of CPOE technology is the ability to catch as many clinical, diagnostic, financial, or administrative errors in the electronic medical record.

According to a scientific analysis of hospital settings, each facility has experienced dramatic decrease in wait times for radiology reports, laboratory data, and even medications for each patient. Analytical statistics indicate that CPOE technology has reduced clinical errors from fifty-five percent to a dramatic seventeen percent in a ten-year range. This technology actually increases the amount of quality care each patient receives, as well as the time spent acquiring vital information needed for diagnosis and treatment. CPOE technologies not only increase the amount of accurate communication between healthcare providers, but provides real time alerts to assist the decision making process for each patient. Although there are several benefits associated with this new technology, many hospitals are still hesitant to employ its use.

The amount of money that needs to be invested in such technology far exceeds the budgets of many healthcare facilities. Furthermore, the transition from older technologies to CPOE technology may cause disturbances in the amount of patients that healthcare workers treat on a daily basis. There is a fair amount of education and training needed to show all medical professionals how to navigate through the program to allow for optimal work efficiency. Accordingly, a detailed analysis of in-patient hospital operations shows that less than fifteen percent of hospitals are actually using this new technology. As time wears on and technology evolves along with strict federal mandates governing this industry, hospitals will see less issues and more benefits associated with computerized provider order entry technologies.

EHRScope

EHR Scope is a leader in EHR consulting and education. They offer a variety of valuable resources to help physicians and practices navigate their way through the EMR implementation process. EHR Scope includes a network of resources for EHR comparison, multimedia industry news and information vital to operating within current Healthcare legislation and guidelines for ARRA stimulus HITECH act. Check out www.ehrscope.com and www.ehrtv.com for more information.